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Synopsis (Subjoined notes will be useful)

THE subjoined notes will be useful to readers who desire more information of a scientific and technical nature than is embodied in the sketches that accompany the plates. To arrange them otherwise than in accordance with the arrangement of subjects in the body of the work would appear an incongruity; and as each note is complete in itself, the lack of scientific sequence is probably of no consequence. It is impossible, indeed, in such a work as the present, to follow any system, unless it be that of the butterfly, which probably knows but little of botany, but appears to be perfectly happy in going from flower to flower.

TROPAEOLUM, from tropaion, a trophy. NATURAL ORDER, Tropoeolaceoe LINNAEAN : 8, Octandria; 1, Monogynia.-The plants belonging to this order are smooth, tender, and herbaceous, with diffuse or twining stems, and alternate-petiolate peltate leaves; the flowers are irregular, axillary, and solitary; the calyx has five sepals, the upper one with a long distinct spur; the petals are unequal and irregular, the two upper are sessile and remote, arising from the throat of the calyx, the three lower stalked, and smaller, sometimes abortive; the stamens, eight in number, perigynous, the filaments distinct; the anthers minute, erect, two-celled, dehiscing longitudinally; ovary consisting of three carpels; style one, stigmas three, acute; ovules solitary, pendulous; the fruit is indehiscent, separating into three pieces which surround a common axis; the seeds are large, having no albumen, and filled with the embryo, the cotyledons of which are thick and consolidated together into a single body; the radicle lies within the projections of the cotyledons. The relationship of the tropaeolums to the geraniums is extremely close, and we may imagine the nectariferous tube of the pelargonium to be a modification of the spur of the Indian cress in a position confluent with the pedicel. LILIUM, from leirion, or from the Celtic li, white. N.O., Liliaceoe. LINNEAN; 6, Hexandria; 1, Monogynia.-The lilyworts are endogenous plants widely scattered over the globe, and comprehending the dracaenas, yuccas, aloes, and asparagus, as well as the true lilies, which for the most part produce fleshy bulbs of annual duration. The leaves are always simple and undivided, and usually have the veins running straight from the base to the apex, but in some dracaenas they diverge from the midrib to the margin. The flower consists of six perianth pieces, six stamens with anthers opening inwards, and a superior three-celled ovary changing to a three-celled fruit. The true lilies have a longitudinal nectariferous furrow as the base of each petal or perianth piece, an undivided style, a capitame stigma, and flat seeds. The colour of the flowers is white, yellow, or red.

WALLFLOWER, or CHEIRANTHUS. The English name refers to the habit of the plant as an inhabitant of walls and rocks; the Latin name implies that it is in an especial manner a nosegay or "hand" flower. N. O., Cruciferoe. LINNAEAN: 15, Tetradynamia. -The cruciferous order is one of the most natural as well as most important of the great families of the vegetable kingdom, as it includes the cabbages, cauliflowers, cresses, mustards, turnips, colzas, horse-radish, sea-kale, and an immense number of ornamental plants, of which the candytuft, stock, wallflower, and arabis are familiar examples. Many of the plants of this order are characterised by a volatile acridity and a pungent flavour; they are stimulant and antiscorbutic; none of them are poisonous. Most of them are annual or biennial herbs; some are perennial and sub-shrubby; all have alternate leaves without stipules; the flowers are hermaphrodite, regular, and consist of a calyx of four pieces and a corolla of four petals clawed at the base and arranged opposite each other in the form of a cross; hence the term "cruciferous." The stamens are six in number, four of which are longer than the other two. The stigma is two-lobed. The ovary is superior, with two cells separated by a partition to which the ovules are attached. The fruit is a silique, or a silicle, dry, one or many seeded, and usually opening in two valves. The seeds are without albumen, but in many instances contain oil, which is removed by expression for commercial purposes. ACONITUM, most probably from Aconoe, the place where it was first found. N.O., Ranunculaceoe. LINNAEAN: 13, Polyandria; 3, Trigynia. -The ranunculus or crowfoot family consists of herbaceous and half-shrubby plants, with leaves alternate, divided, and widened at the base, where they form a sheath round the stem. The flowers vary much in their disposition, having sometimes a whorl of three leaves close to them or at some distance below. The calyx consists of three to six pieces; the corolla contains petals that have a distinct numerical relation to the leaves of the calyx, being equal, double, or triple. Thus the buttercups have usually a calyx of five leaves and a corolla of five petals; but the pilewort, or lesser celandine, has usually three sepals and nine petals; while the peony has five sepals and five to ten petals. The stamens are generally numerous, distinct, and situated under the ovary. The carpels, or seed-vessels, are sometimes one-seeded and collected in a head or capitule; or many-seeded and combined in a whorl; or are compressed so as to form a many-celled pistil. All the ranunculaceous plants have watery juices, and are more or less acrid and poisonous, and the roots are often more decidedly poisonous than the stems and leaves. But the poisonous principle is destroyed by boiling or drying; hence some of these plants are used for food when cooked, and the poisonous crowfoots of our meadows, which are never touched by cattle, become wholesome fodder when dried in the form of hay. The aconite may be distinguished from all other members of the ranunculus family by the fact that the large upper-most segment of its calyx overhangs the petals and other parts in the form of a helmet.